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A DISCOURSE, 



DELIVERED IN THE MEETING-HOUSE 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, OF PHILADELPHIA, 



Novembei- Gth, 18G4, 



ev, Ceorge iana goartlmain 



rA-STOR,. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

RINGWALT & BROWN, STEAM-POWER BOOK PRINTERS, 

111 & 110 South Fourth Street. 

LS64. 



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fiiivU govfrnwent, a givine ©vjtin«««. 



A DISCOURSE, 



DELIVERED IN THE MEETING-HOUSE 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, OF PHILADELPHIA, 



Novembei- Gtli, 18G-4.5 






I'A.STOR. 



#";. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

RINGWALT & BROAVN, STEAM-POWER BOOK PRINTERS, 
K'fj^ 111 k 113 South Fourth Street. 

1864. 



^b 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



PuiLADELi'HiA, November lUth, 1804. 
Rev. (Jeorije Dana Boardman : 

De.r SiR-Havi„g cnjoved the pleasure of hc.iring the loyal and patriotic sermon 
delivered by you. on Sabbath evening, November Gth. inst.nt, and believing that 
the sentiments therein so eloquently, forcibly and logical y enforced are calculated, 
not only in a religions aspect, but in a national view to impress upon every citizen 
the duty and obli|atiou of rendering obedience "to the powers that be, as well a. a 
cheerful support to the Government in its efforts to subdue the existing rebellion, we 
are induced to request, at your earliest convenience, a copy for publication. 

Although the immediate occasion for which your discourse was ^P"'^','^^' . ° '^^ \« 
has haiM,nv passed, yet it will, no doubt, tend to establish more firmly the faith of all 
ATh"^o I'abored for the success of the principles you so nobly advocated. 

Notwithstanding so.ie of the undersigned are not members of your church or con- 
grel-atTon, nor identified with the Baptist denomination, and are strangers to you 
personally, yet it is hoped you will not have any hesitation in acceding to the requLst 
herein contained. . . 

"With great respec% your friends and fellow-citizens. 



WiLLiAsr D. Kei.lev, 
(teori;e H. Crosman, 

jAirES L. CLACiHORS, 

JoHX Hanna, 
Samuel H. Perkins. 

.Jos. W. BlLLOCK. 

B. K. Loxi.EV, 
Jonx C. L)Avis. 
Henry C. Howell, 
Thomas "Wattson, 
Washington BrT( her, 
Charles D. Talmaoe, 
Wm. S. Hansell. 



James M. Biun. 
Stephen A. Caldwell, 
Edwin Hall, 
Charles Jewell, 
Alex. T. Lane. 
AVm. F. Dean. 
John M. Ford, 
John Hartman, 
James S. Moore. 
AVm. Coffin. 
Josei'H F. Page. 
John F. Forepavgh. 

I. JI. tVllARRA. 



No. 1712 Vine Street, November 11, 1^04. 



To the Hon. Wii.mam D. Kellev, Col. George H. Crosman, James L. Clac- 

HOKN, 'Esq., John Hanna, Esq., and others. 

GENTLEMEN-Your Hote of the 10th instant, requesting for publication the dis- 
course delivered in the meeting-house of the Fir.st Baptist Church, on the evening of 
the 6th instant, has been received. > i„ 

I gratefully acknowledge the sentiments of esteem which your note so courteously 

''Xuevin" with you that the truths so imperfectly set forth on the occasion referred 
to are of Supreme and abiding value, I cheerfully place the manuscript at your 

'^'?havc taken the libertv of adding a few paragraphs, which, in consequence of the 
extreme length of the discourse, were omitted in the delivery. ^ , , „ , , 

Fevently congratulating you upon the magnificent decision of last Tuesday, by 
which the American people declared, with a unanimity truly august that God s Ord- 
nance of Civil Government shall be unconditionally maintained, I am, gentlemen, 
with profound respect, 

Your friend and townsman, 

GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN. 



DISCOUKSE 



We are living in a most extraordinary epoch. It is an era 
of stupendousness in the field, stupendousness in the court, 
stupendousness in the arena of the nation's feelings. It were 
but a miserable, guilty aifectation of indifference for the min- 
isters of Christ to ignore mighty national crises like the present. 
In common with my countrymen, I have been profoundly agi- 
tated by these sublime events, following each other with such 
startling rapidity ; and yet, oppressed as I am with the terrible 
catastrophe which has overtaken our land, it is very seldom that 
I would venture to introduce into the pulpit topics, the discus- 
sion of which seem to have a political bearing. For, the King- 
dom of which I am an ambassador, is not of this Avorld. But, 
ever and anon, some billow of our tempest-tossed ocean, surging 
to an unwonted height, bears aloft the ship of state far above 
the level of considerations merely political, into the purer re- 
gion of Christian morals. At such times, Avhen the Almighty 
visibly makes bare His arm, and the nation passes through some 
sublime moral crisis, that minister is false to his trust, as the 
prophet or spokesman of God, who does not seize the occasion 
and turn it to a religious use. Such an occasion, I solemnly 
believe, is the approaching Presidential election. Next Tues- 
day, this nation is to decide whether it Avill obey God by main- 
taining His own ordinance of Civil Government, or disobey Him 
by ignominiously yielding it to mad insurgents. We all know 
that there is throughout the nation more or less of misgiving as 
to the righteousness of this war. The secret heart of the great 

(5) 



6 

Public needs assurance on this point. This is the grand ques- 
tion which is to be decided next Tuesday. The real question, 
stripped of whatsoever attaches itself to it incidentally, is simply 
this: Shall we have a peace by maintaining with the sword 
God's ordinance of civil government, or by surrendering it ? 
Thus surveyed, the question assumes a profoundly religious 
aspect. Accordingly, I invite your attention to some comments 
founded on a clause in the fourth verse of the thirteenth chap- 
ter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans : 

HE BEARETH NOT THE SWORD IN VAIN. 

I. The origin of Civil Government is a problem which has 
baffled the ingenuity of the subtlest intellects in every age. The 
principal theories concerning this matter may, however, be 
reduced to two. The first theory — recognising Civil Govern- 
ment as an external fact, existing independent of men's wills — 
traces its origin back to the Paternal or Patriarchal system of 
rule. This was the view maintained by the Tories and 
the great body of Churchmen under the English Stuarts, 
and on which they founded their famous doctrines of the Divine 
right of Kings, and of Passive Obedience, or absolute non- 
resistance. The second theory, regarding Civil Government as 
a creature of men's Avills, represents it as a Social Contract. Just 
as two or more men unite together for certain purposes of busi- 
ness, and pledge themselves to obey certain rules mutually 
agreed upon, which rules are binding so long as the contract 
stands, so Civil Government is conceived of as a compact between 
each and every citizen. This is the common theory. Thus 
the Parliament which deposed James II, declared by solemn vote 
that James had " broken the original contract between King and 
people." Thus, also, we read in the Constitution of Massachu- 
setts : " The body politic is formed by a voluntary association 
of individuals. It is a social compact, by which the whole people 
covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole 



people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common 
good." Now this theory, as you perceive at once, does not 
explain at all the origin of Civil Government. Besides, it 
would be a difficult matter for even the astutest lawyer to ascer- 
tain the day on which you and I, as citizens of the United 
States, entered into any such contract, or to state the terms of 
the contract we agreed upon, to say nothing of the fact that 
Government has rights which no contract among the subjects 
can confer. The theory is, as the old schoolmen would have 
said, a simple ens rationis, or creature of reason. Yet, like some 
other figments of law, as, for instance, " the State is a person," 
" the King never dies," this theory, that Civil Government is a 
social compact, has certain advantages, as being a convenient 
form for expressing political and legal principles. 

Now the Holy Scripture cuts short all these theories and 
speculations, by positively asserting that Civil Government is of 
Divine origin, and consequently of Divine authority, and this 
it asserts in the broadest terms : for, while it explicitly defines 
the duty of the subject, it does not define the nature or structure 
of the government to which that duty is owing. This is per- 
fectly evident from the paragraph which has supplied us with 
our text, and on which I would now fasten your closest atten- 
tion : * 

1. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is 
no power but of God : the powers that be are ordained of God. 

2. Who.'iorver therefore resisteth the poicer, resisteth the ordiiianec of 
God J and the// that 7-esist shall receive to themselves damnation. 

3. For riders are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt 
thou then not be afraid of the poiccr ? do that which is good, and thou 
shall have p>raise of the same. 

4. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou 
do that which is evd, be afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in vain ; 



* Let those whose sensibilities are shocked whenever the jireacher alludes to polities, 
beware how their eyes fall on this political chapter of an inspired apostle. 



8 



for lie is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath vpon him 
that dueth evil. 

5. Wherefore ye must needs he suhject, not only for irratli, hut also 
for conscience sake. 

6. For^ for this cause pay ye tribute also; for they are God's min- 
isters, attending continually upon this very thing. 

7. Render therefore to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is 
due; custom to trhom custom ; fear to u-hom fear ; honour to tchom 
honour. Rom. xiii. 1-7. 

In these verses St. Paul is enforcing the duty of obedience 
to those in authority by several considerations. Let us 
rapidly run over them. He enforces it, 

1. By the consideration that Civil Government is a Divine 
institution. " Let every soul be subject unto the Higher Poivers. 
For there is no Poiver but of God. The Powers that be are 
ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisfeth the Potvers, 
resisteth the Ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive 
unto themselves damnation.'" That is to say : Let every man 
submit himself to the authorities of Government. For all civil 
authority comes from God. Civil Government is a Divine Ordi- 
nance. We must obey our rulers because Civil Government is 
of Divine appointment. Consequently, resistance to rulers is 
resistance to God Himself. And all -who thus resist invoke upon 
themselves a just judgment. 

2. The apostle enforces the duty of obedience to those in 
authority, secondly, from the end or design of their (appoint- 
ment. ^'- For ruler's are not a terror to good works, but to the 
evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the Poioer? Do that 
which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he 
is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that 
which is evil be afraid. For he beareth not the sivord in vain: 
a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.'' That 
is to say: Magistrates are to be obeyed, not only because such 
is the will of God, but also because they are appointed for the 



9 

very purpose of promoting the welfare of society. Government 
is a terror to none but evil doers. The magistrate is God's 
steward, to whom He has entrusted the welfare of society. 
But if the subject rebels, it is not in vain, neither is it by 
chance, that Government is invested with authority to punish 
him : for God has appointed Government for that very purpose. 
3. That we may complete the apostle's view of the subject, 
let me repeat the third consideration which he presents, why 
we are to submit ourselves to those in authority, viz : because 
such submission is a religious as well as civil duty. ''Where- 
fore, ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for 
conscience sake." That is to say: We must obey our rulers, 
not only from fear of civil punishment, but also out of con- 
scientious regard for God Himself. 

The apostle deduces from this statement the following 
inference: Since Civil Government is of Divine origin and 
authority, we should cheerfully sustain it with our pecuniary 
and moral support. ''For, for this cause pay ye tribute also : for 
they are Crod's ministers, attending continually upon this very 
thing. ReJider, therefore, to all their dues; tribute to whom 
tribute; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to 
whom honour." (See Appendix, note A, page 29.) 

We see then what the Scriptural teaching concerning Civil 
Government is. It teaches us to accept government as a 
Divine fact, which exists as soon as, and wherever, men exist. 
There has never been a nation so degraded that it had no 
government. There has never been a nation so advanced that 
it intentionally based its government on the idea of a social 
compact, except as a figment of law. Men never have lived, 
and men never will live, and this simply because men never can 
live, without government. Government is a fact, just as the 
atmosphere, or gravitation, or man himself, is a fact. God 
established the principle of gravitation. God created the 



10 



atmosphere. God brings man into being. God makes govern- 
ments. We shall never be able to trace the origin or basis of 
Civil Government further back than was done more than two 
thousand years ago by the great philospher of Stagira : "It is 
manifest," says Aristotle, " that the State is one of the things 
which exist by nature, and that man, in virtue of his very being, 
is a political animal : '"'■ a.vdpior.o:^ (f'jazc rcolczr/biJ qioov." And a 
greater than Aristotle hath declared, as in our passage : " The 
Poivers that he are ordained of Gfod. Whosoever, therefore, re- 
sisteth the Power, resisteth the Ordinance of Crod." That is to 
say : Society and Government are not altogether creatures of 
men's wills ; but they are Divine institutions, existing wherever 
men exist. Those who are in authority are to obeyed within 
their sphere, no matter how or by whom appointed ; and this 
because Civil Government is a Divine Ordinance. The Powers 
that be are ordained of God, not because they chance to have 
been justly inaugurated, not because they are at present justly 
administered, but because they are the Government, and Gov- 
ernment is a Divine institution. And we are to be subject to 
the PoAvers that be. And what is specially worthy of being 
noticed in this connection is, that this was the teaching of our 
Lord and of Ilis apostles, living though they were, under the 
murderous despotism of the Cresars, in the crimson days of a 
Tiberius, a Caligula, a Claudius, a Nero, and a Domitian. 

But if the PoAvers that be are ordained of G('d, and if whoso- 
ever resisteth the Powers, resisteth the Ordinance of God, how 
then, you ask, can Revolutions ever be justified ? What redress 
have we when tyranny becomes absolutely intolerable ? Will 
you carry your doctrine of loyalty to the extreme of pro- 
nouncing, for instance, the American Kevolution an act of 
treason, rather than of patriotism ? 

We will not undertake to answer these questions flippantly. 
They are among the most momentous that history, or the possi- 



11 



ble fortunes of our own dear land, can put to the Christian 
patriot. Let us, therefore, survey the matter as becomes 
thoughtful, conscientious, Christian lovers of country. 

In reply to the question, whether resistance to the govern- 
ment ever can be justifiable, we answer that the question 
belongs to the domain of casuistry, or cases of conscience. 
All will admit that revolutions are not the ordinary conditions 
of society, but that they are exceptional cases. We cannot, 
therefore, argue from them ; for it is manifestly absurd to 
deduce a rule from an exception. Again, all Avill admit that 
if revolutions are ever justifiable, they can be justified only on 
the plea of necessity. If the plea of necessity holds good, it 
holds good because " Necessity knows no law." But who is 
to be the judge when a revolution is a necessity ? Evidently, 
the question is one in casuistry; and questions in casuistry 
are proverbially the most puzzling of all problems. The 
remark is pre-eminently true of the subtleties of the law. 
"Law," said Dr. Johnson, "is the science in which the great- 
est powers of the understanding are applied to the greatest 
number of facts." No formula, then, can be enunciated that 
shall exactly apply to cases of revolution. Evidently, the line 
which separates the patriot from the traitor is very narrow and 
delicate. " A good action," said Lord Macauley, " is not dis- 
tinguished from a bad action by marks so plain as those which 
distinguish a hexagon from a square." Take the case so 
often submitted to our juries — that of killing, when the defend- 
ant urges the plea of self-defence. Now, if the evidence is 
that the killing was in self-defence, the law, as you are aware, 
recognizes the validity of the plea, and pronounces the homi- 
cide justifiable. But what lawgiver, what jurist, will dare to 
fix, with perfect precision, the limits of self-defence ? Will 
you show mo the law which measures the precise amount of 
jeopardy to which the defendant must be exposed, in order to 



12 



justify the killing? But, because the law cannot, from the very 
nature of the case, measure the precise amount of necessary 
jeopardy, are we prepared to affirm that all cases of killing 
in alleged self-defence are on the one hand justifiable homi- 
cides, or, on the other hand, murders? Evidently, each case is 
peculiar, and must be decided by itself, and decided, too, on an 
exhaustive view of all the circumstances belono-ing to the 
transaction. The general principle of these remarks may be 
applied to cases of resistance to the government, remember- 
ing, however, that in the latter cases the materials for our 
decision are vastly more complicated, since no revolution is 
justifiable till every means of constitutional redress has been 
exhausted ; and this, as the English revolution of 1688, and 
our own colonial struggle show, is not the work of a day or of 
a year. Neither can any revolution be justified in which the 
chances of success do not clearly preponderate over the chances 
of defeat. For, civil war is a more terrible calamity than des- 
potism ; and the same revolution, Avhich, if successful, makes 
him who leads it a patriot, and entitles him to the patriot's 
wreath, if unsuccessful, makes him who leads it a rebel, and 
justly exposes him to the rebel's doom. 

The question, as I have said, is one that belongs to the 
domain of casuistry. It is very much like the question that 
often arises, whether or not a child is ever at liberty to disobey his 
parents. And, permit me here to remark, that I believe that the 
relation between parent and child is a divinely ordained type 
of the relation between the State and its subject. What the 
parent is to the child, that the State, in many particulars, is to 
the citizen. N'ot Avithout deep significance did the Eoman law 
pronounce the rebel against his country a parricide. Now, the 
parental relation, like Government itself, is a Divine institu- 
tion. The essence and gist of the fifth article of that supreme 
constitution which the great Lawgiver has drafted for the 



1 o 



government of the human race, in all lands and times, Honor 
thy father and thy mother, consists, as I understand it, in these 
two principles : First, There is such ti thing as law ; and, 
secondly, law must be obeyed. This commandment is not an 
arbitrary enactment, but has its immutable foundation in the 
very essence of the relation which subsists between parents and 
children. We might, indeed, legitimately ground this duty on 
the basis of expediency, or of j^sthetic propriety, or of justness, 
or of the personal character of the parent himself. But, resist- 
less as are the motives to filial obedience furnished by consider- 
ations like these, I believe that our commandment rests on a 
basis more immutable and unconditional. It is a singular fact 
that, in many languages, the word employed to denote obedi- 
ence to God is identical with that employed to denote obedience 
to parents. Both the Greeks and the Romans, heathen though 
they were, called devotion to parents ^iV<?/. What is this but 
a sort of universal, intuitive feeling that the honoring of parents 
partakes of the nature of an absolute religious obligation, rather 
than of a contingent, social duty, or of an aesthetic propriety ? 
I believe that when a son is disobedient to his parents he is 
guilty of something more than undutifulness; and that when he 
insults them he is guilty of something more than insolence; and 
that when he is unkind to them he is guilty of something more than 
cruelty; and that when he wrongs them he is guilty of something 
more than injustice. There is in each of these actions a peculiar 
element of wickedness perfectly distinguishable from that which 
gives to each separate action its specific title. I think that every 
rightminded person instinctively discriminates between the 
infrino-ino; the ricrhts of our neicfhbors and the infrino-iner the 
rights of our parents ; so that, while he describes the former as 
being wicked, he spontaneously describes the latter as being 
impious. It is not enough, then, to say that it is expedient, or 
appropriate, or beautiful, or even just, that we honor our 



14 



parents. But this duty, originating, as it does, outside of and 
above the circle of conditions and contino-encies, is a thins: abso- 
lutely and unconditionally right in itself. " Children ! obey 
your parents in the Lord, for this is right," is the Apostolic 
injunction. And this word here translated right, St. Paul 
is always careful to employ when he would designate an action 
which is right, not incidentally or relatively, but inherently and 
unconditionally. Hence, for a son to honor his parents is not 
merely an aesthetic propriety, or a matter of justness, but a 
religious obligation, partaking of the nature of an elementary 
principle. I do not know that I make myself understood. It 
is difficult to define this conception, just as it is difficult to 
define any other elementary principle. Perhaps I can illus- 
trate it best by an ancient usage. The Pharisees had a custom, 
founded on tradition, of refusing, in certain cases, to assist their 
needy parents, on the ground that what they had to offer as 
gifts they had already consecrated to God, and hence they 
claimed that they were released from the duty of maintaining 
their parents. It was enough for them to exclaim : Corban! 
that is, already/ devoted. But the Great "Teacher pointed out 
the impiety which lurked beneath this cloak of sanctity, by 
affirming in substance that, while it Avas perfectly right that 
they should contribute of their resources to the Lord's treasury, 
nevertheless, the specific commandment. Honor thy Fatlier and 
thy Mother, and the duty involved in it of maintaining them, was 
of the nature of an antecedent, primary, fundamental obliga- 
tion, and could never be dispensed with to make room for an 
incidental contingent duty. But it often happens that parents, 
viewed in respect to their personal characters, are unworthy of 
being honored ; and, therefore, our idea of the fifth command- 
ment is that, in its fullest and truest significance, it does not 
regard the parent himself so much as it does the Parental Rela- 
tion — not the person so much as the principle. ' 



15 

Now, this relation between parents and children involves, 
on the one hand, the idea of parental authority, and, on the 
other, of filial subordination. But, is a child never at liberty 
to disobey his parents? Suppose, for instance, a father com- 
mands his son to do what the latter knows he ought not to 
do, or forbids his doing what he knows he ought to do, must the 
son obey him ? Now, concerning this, we must say what we 
are compelled to say concerning cases of conscience generally, 
that, in the absence of specific scriptural precepts, we must 
govern ourselves by general principles. We must also remem- 
ber that there can be no real conflict between moral laws ; and 
that, if any conflict appear, the difficulty is not in the objective 
laws themselves, but in our subjective inability to perceive their 
harmony ; and hence, in deciding such cases, we must proceed 
with the utmost diffidence and caution. Some of the general 
principles which may help us in this matter are these : First, 
it is manifestly my duty to obey both God and my parents. 
Again, there are certain distinctly enunciated laws which lie in 
the unchanging plane of fundamental, unconditional obligation. 
In respect to these laws, my father and I stand on an equality 
before God. On the other hand, there are many inferential, 
incidental duties, which lie in the ever-shifting plane of contin- 
gencies. In respect to these, I am to yield to the commands 
of my father, in virtue of my own youthfulness and inexperi- 
ence, and state of subjection to an authority which has been 
divinely ordained. For example: If my father impose on me 
commands which I cannot help feeling are unreasonable and 
cruel, I think that I ought to obey him, remembering that, in 
virtue of a divine arrangement, the responsibility in such cases 
rests with him. But if my father command me to worship 
graven images, or to take God's name in vain, or to steal, or to 
bear false witness against my neighbor, I must, at all hazards, 
refuse to obey him : for my father has no right, or power, to 



1(3 



make or unmake moral laws ; and moral laAvs impose obliga- 
tions antecedent and superior to any which parents may dictate. 

Now let us make use of these principles in answering the 
question, whether it can be right to refuse obedience to the 
Government '{ Let us never lose sight of the fact that the 
Powers that be, like the parental authority, are ordained of 
God. Suppose, now, that some of the enactments of the State 
are not such as accord with my ideas of reason, or justice, or 
republicanism ? Am I at liberty to be undutiful to my civic 
father and mother ? Because I do not like a particular laAv, am 
I at liberty to set myself up against the law ? Who has 
anointed me king over the legislature, and the judiciary, and 
the executive, of my nation ? Am I to translate the grand 
doctrine of the higher laAv, as too manj^ have translated it, into 
the doctrine that the higher law is my own will ? Am I to 
carry the noble doctrine of Popular Sovereignty to the extreme, 
that, as an American citizen, I am above the laws of the land, 
and thus illustrate, for the thousandth time, the truth of the 
proverb, that extremes meet, by showing that there is very little 
difference after all between the modern anarchical doctrine of 
the Divine right of citizen sovereignty, and the old monarchi- 
cal doctrine of the Divine right of kings ? Remember that 
liberty, unbalanced by law, is anarchy. Liberty, like every 
other blessing of God, not excepting even the grace of Christ's 
Gospel, may be abused, and prove our ruin. Liberty, una- 
bridged by law, is ever a perilous thing. Mans true freedom 
consists, not in an unfettered license, but in a voluntary subor- 
dination to law. And the true freedom of a nation consists, not 
in the suicidal privileges of outlawry, but in a cheerful obedi- 
ence to the laws which they themselves enact, and administer 
by representatives of their own free choice. 

But remember, ye heirs of immortality, that there is a law 
higher than even the ratified enactments of the freely elected 



17 



deputies of a free people. There is a Power more omnipotent 
than that of the people. We enter a most solemn and earnest 
protest against the blasphemous dogma, so frequent on the lips 
of certain politicians, and editors, and demagogues, that the 
voice of the people is the voice of God 1 Let their motto rather 
be this : THE VOICE of god, let it be the voice of the people ! 
The popular sovereignty which does not reverently bow before 
the Theocracy, whose constitution is the Decalogue, and whose 
interpretation is the Life of Jesus of Nazareth, is essentially an 
Atheistic Democracy. Do you want an illustration of this ? 
You shall have one. It shall be an appalling one. It is the 
French Revolution. ^' The People is sufficient for itself," 
shrieked Anacharsis Clootz, one of the haranguers of that awful 
epoch, " the People is sufficient for itself, and will subsist for- 
ever. Citizens ! there is no other sovereign than the human 
race— the People-God ! To this Utopia the only obstruction is 
Religion. Let us grind it to powder !" And in grinding it to 
powder, they compounded for themselves that terrific, fulmina- 
ting force, which suddenly exploded into a thousand blackened 
fragments, the liberty, and the peace, and the virtue, and the 
glory of France. Let a people once be seized with the idea 
that they have no sovereign but tlieir own will, and that the 
only curb to their freedom is physical force, and neither expe- 
diency nor patriotism, neither reason nor mercy, can prevent 
them from using their liberty as a cloak for a most hideous dia- 
bolism. "0, Liberty! Liberty!" exclaimed the illustrious 
Madame Roland, when, in the name of liberty, she was goaded 
on to the guillotine by a frenzied horde of Parisian outlaws : "0, 
Liberty ! Liberty ! what crimes have been perpetrated in tliy 



name 



But while holding these strong notions concerning the autho- 
rity of the State, I believe that there are cases in which the 
people are justified in resisting the Government, even though 



18 



civil government is an institution of Divine ordination, just as 
I believe there are cases in Avhicli the child ought to disobey his 
parents, even though the parental authority is of Divine origin. 
But it is not necessary that I prosecute the topic further. For, 
however discontented a portion of our Northern community may 
be, the great mass of the people repel with utmost abhorrence the 
intimation that the time has come for such a resistance to the 
National Authority as shall amount to an organized revolution. 
I have adverted to the topic, not because it is specially perti- 
nent to the object I have in view, but because I wished to obviate 
the objection which might be urged that I had not surveyed the 
matter in all its bearings. 

II. Having thus considered the Origin and Authority of Civil 
Government, we ask, secondly, whether Civil Government has 
the right to maintain its authority with the sword ? 

This question is of primary consequence. In fact, it lies at 
the base of all other questions pertaining to this gigantic war. 
The whole spirit of the New Testament is so benignant, and 
war develops such terrible passions, and brings in its train such 
unspeakable woes, that no man, least of all the Christian, 
should dare commit himself to it thoughtlessly, without having 
carefully scrutinized, in the light of Scripture, ever}^ inch of 
the ground. I cave not how great provocations we may have 
received ; I care not how imperilled our Constitution, our Union, 
our Government, our institutions, our liberties, may be ; if, as 
a soldier, or as a citizen required to help supply the sinews of 
war, I have the slightest misgivings as to the Scriptural teach- 
ings concerning war, better for me that I should let Constitu- 
tion, Union, Government, institutions, counti'y, be given over to 
ruin, rather than lift my hand against my fellow-man. 

I wish to meet this question fairly, in the full face, without 
reserve or subterfuge. The thoughtful, conscientious man will 
be guided by principle rather than by impulse. This question, 



li^t 



then, is of fundamental, decisive consequence. It becomes us, 
then, to look at the matter calmly and as Christians. 

It must be confessed that the general tenor of the New Tes- 
tament is very decided against the use of physical force in 
redressing injuries. Love it pronounces the grand avenger of 
wrongs. Take, as an instance, the Sermon on the Mount. What 
a sweet spirit of forgiveness and love runs throughout, teaching 
us, in various phrases, to suffer wrong rather than resent it ! 
And this is the teaching of the Epistles as well as of the Gos- 
pels. " Dearly beloved I avenge not yourselves, but rather give 
place unto wrath. For it js written: 'Vengeance is mine, I 
will repay,' saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, 
feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink. For, in so doing, thou 
shalt heap coals of fire on his head." Certainly, this does not 
look as if the maiming and slaying one another were accordant 
with the peaceful spirit of the Gospel. 

Now there is one very remarkable exception to this general 
tenor of the scriptural teaching. If I remember right, it is 
the only formal exception in the whole New Testament. But 
it is perfectly decisive. It is the exception of our text : " He 
Beareth not the Sword in Vain." Now, what is this 
sword that is not borne in vain ; that is, this sword which is 
borne authoritatively and effectively ? Why, it is none other 
than tJie sword of Grovernment unelded to maintain its oivn 
supremacy. This is perfectly demonstrable from the context, 
which we have already examined. " The Powers that be are 
ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth tRe Power, 
resisteth the ordinance of God ; and they that resist shall 
receive unto themselves damnation. For he heareth not the 
sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, a revenger to 
execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." And to make the 
case the strongest possible, remember that St. Paul penned 
these words when living under the most merciless and nefarious 



20 

despotism that ever cursed the earth — the despotism of the 
Csesars. Even the Ci^sars had the right to use the sword to 
maintain the supremacy of their own Government ; and this on 
the basis of the universal fact, that the Power, that is, the 
Government, is ordained of God. 

The doctrine of the text, then, is this : Civil Government, 
in virtue of the fact that it is the ordinance of God, has the 
right, in order to maintain its own authorit}^, to use physical 
force. This use of physical force, in the case of the single 
rebel, is confiscation, or imprisonment, or banishment, or the 
scaffold : in the case of many rebels, or of a rebellious district, 
it is ivar. The New Testament, then, though it is the evangel of 
Peace, and though it everywhere teaches the forgiveness of per- 
sonal injuries, nevertheless justifies war, but only on this ground : 
Civil Government, as being the ordinance of God, in order to 
maintain its supremacy, has the right to use the sword, even 
though millions perish. Eebels are nothing as compared with 
an ordinance of the Almighty. 

Here, then, men and brethren, Ave have a complete New 
Testament justification of the present war, at least so far as 
we wage it in maintenance of Government as being God's ordi- 
nance. The New Testament nowhere justifies a war for 
mere conquest, or acquisition of territory, as in our war with 
Mexico. It noAvhere justifies war for the retaliation of in- 
iuries. It nowhere justifies war for the avenging of an 
insulted flag, unless, indeed, that flag be considered at the time 
as the symbol of the authority conferred by an ordinance of 
God. When I was abroad, I often heard Europeans making 
some such remark as this : " The Americans are a curious 
people. They are always talking about their flag — the Star- 
spangled Banner — as though that were everything !" And 
whenever I heard a remark like this it always filled me with 
pride, and I more than once said to them : " I thank you for 



21 

that tribute to America. My countrymen are so poetical that 
with them their flag is the symbol of everything they deem 
glorious. All that they have inherited from their fathers, all 
that they have themselves achieved, all that makes them the 
American people, they poetically sjanbolize in their glorious 
Stars and Stripes." And yet, because this flag, considered 
simply as the emblem of our glory, has been insulted and trailed 
in the dust, this is no New Testament justification of our war. 
But if Ave wage this war because God's ordinance of Govern- 
ment has been assailed, and if we avenge the insult to our flag 
because we consider it the symbol of a Divine Institution, then 
we are not only authorized and justified, we are compelled to 
wage this war to the bitter end, even though millions on mil- 
lions of our countrymen perish. And if we wage the war on 
this basis, (and I believe, before God, that this is the basis on 
which we are waging it), then we confidently bring the debate 
before the Court of High Heaven, and we say : " Let Jehovah, 
the Lord of Hosts, the God of Battles, the Giver of Victories, 
decide between you rebels against Jlis ordinance, and us, who 
are loyal to it I Let the God of Battles weigh you and us in 
His balance, and let the balance in which loyalty to God is 
wanting, kick the beam I"' This is precisely the point in issue 
in this tremendous conflict. We call it, and properly enough, 
rebellion against the Government ; we might, with equal pro- 
priety, call it rebellion against Jehovah's ordinance. 

III. " But this war is not at present waged for maintenance 
of Government," I hear some one saying, " It is a war for 
emancipation." 

What you say is partly true and partly false. 

It is true that the Government stands committed to the 
policy and work of emancipation. And from the very pro- 
foundest depths of my soul do I thank and glorify my God 
for the fact. I hail this Proclamation of Emancipation as 



99 



God's own morning star ; the brightest promise He has 
vouchsafed us of our National Redemption. It is a great 
act of public justice, which the world will yet acknowledge 
as one of its grandest eras. For, though this Proclamation is 
based on the ground of military necessity, yet no man can help 
feeling that its real nethermost basis is a moral one. Strip- 
ping the question of all partisan hues, all political associations, 
all personal prejudices and preconceptions, surveying it in its 
moral bearings alone, I believe that it elicits a profound response 
from the general moral sense of the community. And could 
we get at the secret, honest feelings of the thousands who affect 
to sneer at it, we are bold to say that, with the exception of 
those who are utterly given over either to prejudice of color, 
or to partisan blindness, or to secret, treacherous complicity 
with treason — could we, I say, get at the secret, honest feelings 
of the thousands who affect to sneer at this Proclamation, we 
are bold to affirm that in the depths of their hearts they feel 
that it is right ; emphatically, intensely, gloriously eight. It 
is right that they who have risen in armed conspiracy against 
their government, should lose their property, or what they call 
their property, specially when that property consists in the 
weapons with which they fought against the government. It is 
right that that which was the primary, fundamental cause of the 
war should be swept away forever. It is right that they who 
have been enslaved, not because they were criminals, but because 
they were dark-skinned and defenceless, should enjoy the rights 
of manhood as fi-eely as you or I. 0, how my heart has 
been pained, when I have heard respectable, high-minded gen- 
tlemen speaking of the poor defenceless negro, in terms of 
opprobrium, using epithets of vulgar cant, which may befit the 
lips of barbarians, but which certainly do not befit the lips of 
Christian gentlemen, who must one day meet these same unfor- 
tunate fellow-men of theirs at the judgment seat of Christ. 



23 



Yes, I hail this Prochimatlon of Freedom as a colossal stride in 
the direction of American progress. It has changed the "whole 
attitude of the government toward slavery; Formerly, slavery 
■was, as it were, a foster child of the government, and so a 
national institution; now it is an outlaw, to be exterminated 
with the rebel outlaws, whose idol it is. It matters not, in this 
particular, who is elected President on the 8th inst. Retro- 
gression now is impossible. The die is cast. Slavery is 
doomed. I know not what is before us as a nation. I am 
willing to trust God for our future. But if the very worst 
should come, if He, with whom the nations of earth are but as 
wands of gossamer, hath determined that the Union of our 
fathers shall go down forevermore, it will be a blessed thing 
for posterity to know, that, Avhen the American nationality 
went down, she went down all alone, beneath the direct touch 
of Jehovah's finger, without the weight of so much as one 
single slave-infant dragging at her skirts ! 

Therefore, let God be praised ! The American People, by 
this act of their Constitutional Executive, stand irretrievably 
committed to the work of Emancipation. What though the 
proclamation itself be "but a piece of paper?" It is a glo- 
rious thincr that at last we have a Government that dares to 
admit, even on paper, that Freedom is not altogether a ques- 
tion of complexion, and that wherever God has put a human 
soul, there he has put a freeman. But this proclamation is 
something more than a piece of paper. It is a weapon of tre- 
mendous power, for it is borne on the points of half a million of 
bayonets, and heralded by the whiz of ten million bullets. Ah I 
we little know as yet Avhat that piece of paper has accom- 
plished. AVe little know what is taking place in quietness 
to-night on those distant Southern plantations. We little know 
how many hearts are throbbing with wild delight beneath sable 
skins, or how many eyes are turned heavenward in grateful joy 



24 

from cabin and pine grove, from cottonfield and canebrake. Poor, 
oppressed, moaning children of Africa ! Lift up your heads, 
for your redemption draweth nigh ! The tide of Emancipa- 
tion, God's own tide, has set in, and the world's united forces 
cannot drive it back. The men of to-day may sneer at the 
Proclamation ; the men of to-morrow will reverence it. 

Bui the good deed, through the ages, 
Living in historic pages, 
Brighter grows, and gleams immortal, 
Uuconsumed by moth or rust. 



But while it is true that the Grovernment stands committed 
to the policy and work of emancipation, it is not true that we 
are fighting for emancipation as an end, but only as a means. 
And God be praised for the evidences He has vouchsafed us 
that His own ordinance of Civil Government is SAviftly march- 
ing on to victory over the glorious highway of that other ordi- 
nance of His, the ordinance of universal freedom. Strange, 
passing strange, it is, that while some of the bitterest opposers 
of the emancipation proclamation are Northern men, who have 
no practical acquaintance with the workings of the institution of 
slavery, the most distinguished among the Southern loyalists, 
who, through a painful personal experience, have known its 
paralyzing effects on their own communities, are hailing the pro- 
clamation with a feeling approaching to ecstacy. The practical 
m.ovements towards emancipation of such slave States as Mis- 
souri, and Maryland, and Delaware, and portions of Virginia, 
and Kentucky, and Tennessee, and North Carolina, and Florida, 
and Texas, and Louisiana — States which understand experiment- 
ally the workings of slavery, are worth more than all the theo- 
ries and arguments ever elaborated by the human intellect. 
Most significant of all is the intelligence wliich lias reached us 
within the past few days, that the very men who are leaders in 



this atrocious conspiracy against an Ordinance of the Al- 
mighty; the very men ^Yho deliberately inaugurated this 
unparalleled war, for the avowed purpose of founding a new, 
and that a slave-holding empire ; these very men are them- 
selves vindicating the military policy of our Government, by 
proposing to imitate that policy themselves, and proclaiming 
emancipation to their own slaves. [See note B, page 32.] 
What a confession this is, that the conduct of the war on our 
part has been a transcendent success! Verily, the ruler of 
the land hath not borne the sword in vain I And yet there are 
those scattered through the north, who are craven enough to 
assert that "the war is a failure." To compel these haughty 
insurgents to cast away the very corner-stone on Avhich they 
had vauntingly founded their unhallowed Confederacy ; to com- 
pel these scornful task-masters to confess that Avhite men can- 
not conquer us, but that black men may ; to storm and carry 
the very citadel of the rebellion — and slaveholding is that 
citadel — to extort such confessions as these from these swollen 
Southrons; M?.s do you call "a failure?" If this be failure, 
God send us many more like unto it ! 

But this war, I repeat, is not a war for emancipation as such. 
It is a war for God's ordinance of Government through eman- 
cipation. It is a war for the maintenance and supremacy of 
Government on the ground that Civil Government is God's 
ordinance. If this war is waged for any other purpose ; if it 
cannot be based on that loftiest of grounds, the duty of main- 
taining God's ordinance of Civil Government, Heaven forbid 
that I should have anything to do with it! It is not a war for 
subjugation. It is not a war for retaliation. It is not a Avar 
for avenging the insult to our flag, considered merely as the 
symbol of our glory. It is not a Avar for emancipation, as 
such. But it is a war for God's ordinance of Civil Government. 
On this unmistakeable, lofty, Christian, Divine ground, we 



26 



proudly take our position. Jehovah of Hosts summons us 
forth to vindicate the majesty of one of His own institutions, 
to re-assert and forever maintain the supremacy of a Divine 
ordinance on which rebels with accursed heel have trodden. 

I have thus endeavored to set before you, men and brethren, 
the scriptural teaching concerning the origin and authority of 
Civil Government. I have endeavored to show that Govern- 
ment, in order to maintain its own authority, has the right to 
employ physical force. I have endeavored to show that in the 
war which is now devastating our land. Government, in seeking 
to re-establish its supremacy, is rightfully appealing to the sword. 
It only remains for me to make practical application of our 
topic to the exigences of the hour. 

Accordingly, I conclude as I began. Next Tuesday this 
nation is to decide whether it Avill obey God by re-asserting His 
own ordinance of Civil Government, or disobey Him by 
ignominiously surrendering it to insurgents and traitors. This 
is the real question at issue before the American people. Let 
no man deceive you. The real question, stripped of whatsoever 
subordinate details politicians have encumbered it with, is 
simply, nakedly this : Shall we have peace, a true, righteous, 
permanent peace. Heaven's own peace, by re-asserting with the 
sword God's own ordinance of Civil Government? or shall we 
have a false, treacherous, transient, base peace, by impiously 
surrendering to traitors an ordinance of Almighty God ? Tltat 
is the question. Two parties are in the field. The one party 
virtually says : " Government, though of Divine origin and 
authority, is unable to maintain itself. This war is a failure. 
Let us have an armistice. Let us- ground our arms. Let us 
temporize. Let us compromise with the Powers of Darkness. 
Let us play the coward. It is safer than to fight. Let us 
make peace with traitors. And let Heaven's ordinance take 
care of itself I" The other party virtually says: " The Powers 



'J.i 



that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth 
the Powers, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist 
shall receive unto themselves damnation. For the Power beareth 
not the sword in vain. Government has been assailed, outraged, 
defied, trampled on. We have undertaken to re-vindicate its 
authority, to re-assert its supremacy. God helping us, it shall 
be done, till the last armed traitor bites the dust. Graciously 
hath the Lord of Hosts smiled upon us. We have begun 
re-asserting the authority of Government in the field. We 
will finish re-asserting it at the polls. Next Tuesday Treason 
shall die. God save the State 1" 

Fellow-citizens : — I have done my duty. As the minister of 
God I have not shunned to declare unto you His counsel as it 
bears on this tremendous issue. I might have plied you with 
other motives. I might have spoken of the unutterable shame 
involved in this proposition to capitulate to the enemy in the 
very hour of his defeat. But I have preferred to take higher, 
more Christian grounds. As an ambassador from the Court of 
the King of Kings, I have, on this Christ's day, in this Christ's 
pulpit, put this question on Christ's own ground. Beware how 
you trifle with this ordinance of the Omnipotent ! It is the 
nation's crisis. It is the turning point in the nation's fever. 
Life and death hang on the result of next Tuesday. It is an 
august hour. 

We are dwelling, 

In a grand and awful time, 
In an age on ages telling. 

To be living is sublime. 
Hark ! the waking up of nations, 

Gog and Magog to the fray ; 
Hark ! "What soundeth ? Is Creation 

Groaning for its latter day '.' 

I believe it. God hasten that bright Miilenial Day ! Mean- 
time, let America do its part! Let the land of the Pilgrims, 
the land of Washington, be true to God and His ordinances ! 



28 

All will yet he ivell! 0! thou afflicted, tossed with tempest 
and not comforted I ! land of wailing Rachels I ! land of 
patriot-graves ! Be of good cheer ! for thus saitli the Holy One : 

Behold 1 I will lay thy stones with lair colors, 

And thy foundations with sapphires : 

And I will make thy battlements of agates. 

And thy gates of carbuncles, 

And all thy borders of pleasant stones. 

In Righteousness shalt thou be established. 

Thou shalt be far from Oppression, 

And great shall be the Peace of thy children. 

For brass I will bring gold, 

And for iron I will bring silver. 

And for wood brass, 

And for stones, iron. 

I will make thine officers peace. 

And thine exactors righteousness. 

Violence shall no more be heard in thy land. 

Wasting nor destruction within thy borders. 

r.ut thou shalt call thy walls Salvation. 

And thj' gates Praise. 

Thy sun shall no more gc down. 

Neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: 

For Jehovah shalt be thine everlasting light : 

And the days of thy mourning shall be ended 1 

I, Jehovah, will liasten it in its time. 

Weary, bleeding countrymen ! Does that time seem far 
distant ? Lift up your eyes I Faith discerns bright portents 
in the sky. Watchman ! What of the night ? Watchman ! 
What of the night? The watchman saith : The morning 
cometli 1 



Hark : 



Down the long future, tlirough long generations. 
The eclujing sounds grow fainter and then cease : 

And like a bell, with solemn, sweet vibrations, 
I hear once more the voice of Christ say pe.\ckI 

Peace I and no longer from its brazen portals 
The blast of war's great organ shakes the skies! 

But beautiful as songs of the Immortals. 
The holy melodies of Love arise ! 



APPENDIX. 

Xoto A, page 0. 

In this connection, I may be pardoned for putting on record 
some remarks I uttered on a previous occasion. 

I do not ask who the Powers that be are ; it is enough for me 
to know that the Powers that be, like the parental relation, are 
ordained of God ; and to them, at least while they are the Pow- 
ers that be, do I owe the profoundest reverence and obedience. 
The honor which the child is bound to render to his parents, 
the citizen is bound to render to his civic father and mother. 
Honor the King is the Scriptural injunction ; not because the 
King is this or that man, but because this or that man is the King. 
Alas I how often is the spirit of this injunction violated in these 
days of studied insult and defamation ! I refer now to those 
who, in forgetfulness or ignorance of the numberless colossal diffi- 
culties which have beset and are still besetting the rulers of the 
land, are ever complaining, with the dreary perseverance which 
always marks the fault-finder, of the incompetency, and despot- 
ism, and dishonesty of the Chief Magistrate of the United 
States. I mean no partisan allusion. God forbid it ! He who, 
in this night of national grief and dismay, when the founda- 
tions of government, and law, and order, and home are heav- 
ing, thinks of parties, or mentions parties, save to spurn them, 
is unworthy to be a man, least of all an American citizen. Men 
and Brethren I I warn you solemnly, in the presence of 
Almighty God, there is terrible danger 'to the North hidden in 
these denunciations. It is not possible that any people can long 
have a good Government who are in the habit of speaking dis- 
paragingly of their constitutional authorities. Centuries ago 
there was a ruler whose name has come down to us as a syno- 

(29) 



30 



njm for atrocity, -who once commanded that the most illustrious 
orator and philosopher of his age should be smitten in the 
mouth. The indignant hero suddenly turned upon the despot 
T/ho had given the brutal order, and exclaimed: " God shall 
smite thee, thou whited wall !" But the moment that he learned 
that the man whom he had thus answered was the constitutional 
ruler of the land, the lojal Paul apologized, saying: " I wist 
not that it was the High Priest ; for it is written : ' Thou shall 
not speak evil of the Riders of thy people.' " 

What a lesson for us in these days of bitter insult and denun- 
ciation ! I repeat: No people can long have a good government 
who are in the habit of spealcing disparagingly of their Constitu- 
tionally elected rulers. And to-day Government is in fearful 
peril, hardly more from armed rebels in the South than from 
thoughtless patriots in the North. And Government has done 
wisely in stopping the mouth of more than one orator, and 
arresting the pen of more than one editor. We can well aftbrd 
to lose the right of habeas corpus in times of war, if by so doing 
we can enjoy the right of habeas corpus in times of peace. I 
believe that one of the many reasons why God has permitted 
this war to desolate our land is, that we may learn, under the 
terrible pressure of a military despotism, that the first element 
of a genuine patriotism is profound loyalty to the Powers that 
be. I speak strongly because I feel strongly. There is ter- 
rible danger before us. We of the North are tottering on the 
brink of a frightful precipice. So long as we are treating 
Government, as though it were a football for any man to bandy 
about whithersoever he pleases, we are not only insulting God's 
ordinance of Civil Government, but we are most assuredly 
laying the foundation for insubordination, sedition, treason, 
anarchy, and hopeless ruin here at our very doors. Let me 
suppose a case. Here is a noble ship, on a dangerous reef, in 
a terrible tempest, Avith a third of her crew in open mutiny. 



31 



What, now, Avould you think of the prudence or propriety of 
the loyal portion of the passengers and crew, were they to keep 
iterating and reiterating : " The captain is an imbecile ! the 
pilot is an idiot I" Think you that such denunciations Avould 
nerve the officers, or help the ship out of difficulty, especially 
if one-third of her crew were already mutinous ? 0, if I did 
not honestly believe, before God, that the chief peril of my 
country lies here, God knows that I would not use this pulpit, 
and the Sabbath dsij, in thus raising my warning voice. If I 
cannot enter the field myself, I will at least stand by those who, 
whether commander-in-chief or private, are struggling to save 
my country and home. 

I am prepared to say more than this. I feel it to be my 
duty to state here, publicly, that in spite of all the charges of 
weakness, and vacillation, and tyranny, which have been so 
fiercely hurled against the present Chief Magistrate of the 
United States, I believe that no man ever united in himself 
tenderness and firmness, energy and prudence, together with 
calm, far-reaching sagacity, more perfectly than the present 
occupant of the Presidential chair — to whom God grant a 
renewal of the Executive power. I know not the man in all 
the world whom I would be willing to see in his place. And I 
believe that were we admitted behind the scenes of Executive 
determination and resolve, and could we see all the difficulties, 
domestic, foreign, constitutional, popular; difficulties suggested 
alike by justice and by humanity, by the present and by the 
future, with which the President has had to grapple, and all the 
problems which he has had to solve, (difficulties and problems of 
the simple existence of many of which we never have dreamed,) 
we should see the evidences of an honesty and inflexibility of 
purpose, of an intense energy, of a consummate sagacity, and of 
a serene dignity, unruffled as little by sneers of patriots as by 
curses of rebels, which shall win the enthusiastic plaudits of 



;32 



posterity. I believe that the nation will be saved if they will 
only be worthy of the Administration which God has given 
them. And even if I believed the Government at Washington 
unable to grapple with the crisis, rather than give utterance 
to the thought in this hour of sublime peril, let my hand be 
palsied and forget its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the 
roof of my mouth I If you, yourselves, would join Avith 
Southern traitors in striking the final blow that shall murder 
the American nationality, then insist on and keep parading 
before the public the feebleness and imbecility of the Constitu- 
tional authorities of your countrj'. If the American Republic 
falls in this awful crisis, it will fall, not because the first blow 
Avas struck by Southern conspirators, but because the final, 
mortal stab Avas dealt her by her professed Northern friends. 



N.itc H. i.ii-c 2... 

Thank God ! The lament of old Philip Massinger, a contem- 
porary of Shakspeare, and second only to liim in tragic power, 
is no longer true. 

The noble liorse, 
That in liis liery youth, from his wiile nostrils, 
Neighed courage to his rider, and brake through 
Groves of opposed pikes, bearing his lord 
Safe to triumphant victory, old and wounded, 
Was set at liberty and freed from service. 
The Athenian mules, that from the quarry drew 
Marble, hewed for the temple of the gods, 
The great work ended, were dismissed and fed 
\t the public cost. Nay, faithful dogs have found 
Theii' sepulchres. Cut man, to man more cruel, 
Appoints no end to the sutFerings of his slave. 

God be praised! The poet's plaint no longer finds echo 
beneath our national ensign. In arming the slave, Avhether for 
Government or for Rebellion, the sable warrior becomes his 
OAvn liberator. 



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